Automotive Learning Technology Hub

Why do you need an Automotive LMS?

There are a wide range of Learning Management System (LMS) options available to automotive organisations, but few LMS providers offer learning technology designed specifically for the automotive industry.

Why should manufacturers and dealer groups consider an Automotive LMS?

Extended enterprise learning

The automotive industry operates with a great deal of complexity in terms of the relationships between organisations, from suppliers through OEMs to retailers and ultimately customers. These relationships often involve precise standards and require knowledge-sharing and training delivered to people who are not directly employed by the organisation, for example an OEM may need to train staff across hundreds of dealer groups. This type of training delivery to employees outside your own organisation is known as extended enterprise training.

Training relationships across automotive extended enterprises can be more complex than in other industries because of the sheer number of job roles that require individualised training, and the number of organisations who need to distribute training to learners. For example, one dealership may need to deliver training from the OEM as well as the dealer group, and to staff across sales, back office functions and technical departments.

An Automotive LMS can give you more flexibility to incorporate this complex organisational structure into your Learning Management System as the technology is designed around automotive extended enterprises. Redware’s Empowered LMS has been tried and tested by automotive organisations of similar complexity and is designed to be tailored to your organisation’s structure, with the ability to assign training to job roles, locations or based on whether roles are technical or non-technical. You can also incorporate multiple branded portals for different dealer groups or suppliers, and ensure your user permissions and reports are completely secure, displaying only for the relevant people.

Working with an LMS partner who understands the automotive industry can make both the implementation and ongoing relationship easier as it means that you are working with people who already understand the terminology you are using and the challenges your business is facing. One advantage of working with Redware is that you will work with a Learning Strategist as part of your contract with us, so you will have access to an expert in automotive learning who will be able to share best-practice to help you get the most out of your Learning Management System and your learning strategy.

Employee turnover in automotive retail

One challenge facing automotive retail in particular is the high rate of employee turnover. An Automotive LMS that engages learners can have a significant impact on both reducing staff turnover and improving time to competence when new employees are recruited. Volvo Cars have used Empowered to reduce staff turnover by 18% and reduce time to competence by 77%.

Time to competence can be accelerated by incorporating blended learning into your onboarding programmes; rather than waiting for in-person courses, learners can begin their training through eLearning as soon as they start, then attend an in-person course to develop their practical skills. eLearning can also help new starters apply their new skills faster as they can carry around handy reminders of the key information they need on a phone or tablet.

Empowered also has several features to engage longer-term learners, from the ability to assign training to specific job roles, to filters within the learning catalogue that mean learners can seek out their own development activities without the catalogue being crowded with irrelevant content. CIPD research has found that a lack of personal development opportunities and unclear career pathways account for two of the five most common reasons why employees leave their jobs. Providing easily accessible, relevant training can therefore have a direct impact on employee satisfaction and retention.

Providing mobile learning is another invaluable feature of an LMS for automotive retail as it allows busy learners to undertake short training when they have chance, during the work day or even at home or on the commute. It can also engage customer-facing staff with quick refresher training as and when they need it, a particularly important feature in the current retail climate where customers are coming into dealerships incredibly well-informed and expecting salespeople’s knowledge to exceed their own.

An Automotive LMS can help you engage your learners like never before and improve metrics that matter to your business, including employee turnover and time to competence. With a combination of features designed for your industry and the expert support to get the most out of your learning technology, find out more about how Redware’s Empowered LMS could help your organisation grow.